The era of personal DNA testing is here | Sebastian Kraves

翻译人员: 柚羕 胡

想象你是一个养猪户。

Imagine that you're a pig farmer.

You live on a small farm in the Philippines.

你住在一个菲律宾的小农场。

你的牲口是家庭唯一的收入来源——

Your animals are your family's sole source of income --

as long as they're healthy.

只要它们是健康的。

You know that any day,

你知道任意一天，

你的猪都有可能感染流感，

one of your pigs can catch the flu,

the swine flu.

猪流感。

Living in tight quarters, one pig coughing and sneezing

住在狭小的猪圈， 一只猪的咳嗽和喷嚏

很可能马上感染另一只猪，

may soon lead to the next pig coughing and sneezing,

until an outbreak of swine flu has taken over your farm.

直至感染你的整个猪圈。

If it's a bad enough virus,

如果是一个十分严重的病毒，

the health of your herd may be gone in the blink of an eye.

你猪圈里的猪将迅速被传染，无一幸免。

If you called in a veterinarian,

如果你叫来一个兽医，

he or she would visit your farm and take samples

他会拜访你的农场

并且在猪的鼻腔和口腔内取样。

from your pigs' noses and mouths.

But then they would have to drive back into the city

但之后他们会开车回到城里

在他们的实验室里检测那些样品。

to test those samples in their central lab.

Two weeks later, you'd hear back the results.

两周后，你会收到检测结果。

Two weeks may be just enough time for infection to spread

而两周时间足以让疫情蔓延，

and take away your way of life.

夺走你的生计。

But it doesn't have to be that way.

但现实并不一定会这么糟。

Today, farmers can take those samples themselves.

如今，农户们可以自己采集那些样本。

They can jump right into the pen and swab their pigs' noses and mouths

他们可以直接进入猪圈中， 用一张小小的滤纸在猪的

with a little filter paper,

鼻子和口腔中取样，

place that little filter paper in a tiny tube,

将这张滤纸放在一个小试管中，

and mix it with some chemicals that will extract genetic material

和一些化学物质混合起来，提取出 他们从猪的鼻子和口腔中

from their pigs' noses and mouths.

得到的遗传物质。

And without leaving their farms,

不用离开他们的农场，

they take a drop of that genetic material

他们要做的只是将一滴遗传物质

and put it into a little analyzer smaller than a shoebox,

放入一个比鞋盒还小的分析仪中，

program it to detect DNA or RNA from the swine flu virus,

设定程序分析猪流感病毒的 DNA或者RNA，

and within one hour get back the results, visualize the results.

只1个小时内便可以取回结果， 看到是否感染。

This reality is possible

我并非是在夸大其实，

because today we're living in the era of personal DNA technology.

因为如今我们生活在个体DNA技术的时代。

每个人都能检测我们自己的DNA。

Every one of us can actually test DNA ourselves.

DNA is the fundamental molecule the carries genetic instructions

DNA是携带遗传指令最基本的分子，

that help build the living world.

帮助建造了生机勃勃的世界。

人类有DNA。

Humans have DNA.

Pigs have DNA.

猪有DNA。

Even bacteria and some viruses have DNA too.

甚至细菌和一些病毒都有DNA。

The genetic instructions encoded in DNA inform how our bodies develop,

编码在 DNA 中的遗传指令 告诉我们的身体如何发育，

成长，和发挥机能。

grow, function.

And in many cases, that same information can trigger disease.

而且在很多情况下， 同样的信息还能引发疾病。

Your genetic information

你的遗传信息

is strung into a long and twisted molecule, the DNA double helix,

串成了一段长而扭曲的分子， 即DNA双螺旋结构，

that has over three billion letters,

它有着超过三十亿个碱基，

beginning to end.

从开始到结束。

But the lines that carry meaningful information

但是携带有意义的信息的那几行

are usually very short --

通常却很短——

a few dozen to several thousand letters long.

只有几十到几千个字母那么长。

So when we're looking to answer a question based on DNA,

所以当我们在寻找 基于DNA问题的答案时，

we actually don't need to read

我们实际上并不需要去读完

all those three billion letters, typically.

所有的那三十亿个字。

That would be like getting hungry at night

这会像在晚上觉得很饿，

and having to flip through the whole phone book

然后不得不翻阅整个电话簿，

from cover to cover,

从头到尾，

pausing at every line,

一行不落，

just to find the nearest pizza joint.

只是为了找到最近的披萨店。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Luckily, three decades ago,

幸运的是，三十年前，

humans started to invent tools

人类开始发明工具

that can find any specific line of genetic information.

使我们能找到任何一种 特定的遗传信息。

These DNA machines are wonderful.

这些DNA检测器非常棒。

They can find any line in DNA.

它们能查找出DNA中任何一行的信息。

But once they find it,

但虽然它们找到了它，

DNA仍然很小， 而且周围那么多其他的DNA，

that DNA is still tiny, and surrounded by so much other DNA,

that what these machines then do is copy the target gene,

那么这些机器接下来做的 便是复制目标基因，

复制一份又一份，

and one copy piles on top of another,

millions and millions and millions of copies,

成千上万次,

until that gene stands out against the rest;

直到那个与众不同的基因出现；

until we can visualize it,

直到我们能看见它，

interpret it, read it, understand it,

解释它，读懂它，理解它，

until we can answer:

直到我们能回答：

Does my pig have the flu?

我的猪得了流感吗？

Or other questions buried in our own DNA:

或者其他埋藏在我们自己DNA中的问题：

Am I at risk of cancer?

我有患癌症的风险吗？

Am I of Irish descent?

我有爱尔兰血统吗?

Is that child my son?

那孩子是我亲生的吗？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

This ability to make copies of DNA, as simple as it sounds,

DNA的这种复制能力 听起来很简单，

has transformed our world.

却改变了我们的世界。

Scientists use it every day to detect and address disease,

科学家们每天都用它来检测和对付疾病，

to create innovative medicines,

创造新药品,

改进食品，

to modify foods,

评估我们的食物是否安全，

to assess whether our food is safe to eat

or whether it's contaminated with deadly bacteria.

又或者是否被致命的细菌污染。

Even judges use the output of these machines in court

甚至法官在法庭上也使用 这些机器输出的结果

to decide whether someone is innocent or guilty based on DNA evidence.

在DNA证据的基础上 来判定某人是无辜或有罪。

DNA复制技术的发明者

The inventor of this DNA-copying technique

was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993.

在1993 年被授予诺贝尔化学奖。

But for 30 years,

但过了30年，

遗传分析的力量一直局限于象牙塔，

the power of genetic analysis has been confined to the ivory tower,

or bigwig PhD scientist work.

或是有重大影响力的 博士科学家的工作之中。

Well, several companies around the world

世界各地的数家公司

are working on making this same technology accessible

正在把同样的技术简易化，

to everyday people like the pig farmer,

方便人们在日常生活中使用， 例如养猪农户,

like you.

以及我们大家。

I cofounded one of these companies.

我与其他人共同成立了 其中一家这样的公司。

Three years ago,

在3年前，

together with a fellow biologist and friend of mine,

和我的一位生物学家朋友

Zeke Alvarez Saavedra,

Zeke Alvarez Saavedra一起,

我们决定让个人化DNA检测器

we decided to make personal DNA machines

that anyone could use.

能被每个人所使用。

Our goal was to bring DNA science to more people in new places.

我们的目标是在新的地方 将DNA科学带给更多的人。

We started working in our basements.

我们在地下室开始工作。

我们有一个简单的问题：

We had a simple question:

如果每个人都能分析DNA，

What could the world look like

if everyone could analyze DNA?

世界可能是什么样子的呢？

We were curious,

我们很好奇，

就像你们好奇我如果在 1980年向你们展示这张照片。

as curious as you would have been if I had shown you this picture in 1980.

（笑声）

(Laughter)

You would have thought, "Wow!

你一定会想：“哇喔！

I can now call my Aunt Glenda from the car

我现在可以在车里 打电话给我姨妈Glenda

and wish her a happy birthday.

祝她生日快乐了。

I can call anyone, anytime.

我现在能给任何人在任何时间打电话了。

这就是未来！”

This is the future!"

Little did you know,

你还并不知道，

you would tap on that phone to make dinner reservations

你会拨通电话来预订晚餐，

for you and Aunt Glenda to celebrate together.

让你和Glenda姨妈一起庆祝。

With another tap, you'd be ordering her gift.

拨打另一通电话，你将订好她的礼物。

And yet one more tap,

而且每多一次拨号，

and you'd be "liking" Auntie Glenda on Facebook.

你将会被Glenda姨妈 在Facebook上“点赞”。

And all of this, while sitting on the toilet.

而你可以坐在马桶上 做完这所有的事。

（笑声）

(Laughter)

It is notoriously hard to predict where new technology might take us.

新技术将把我们带往何处，谁都说不准。

And the same is true for personal DNA technology today.

对如今的个人DNA技术来说 情况也是一样。

举个例子，我从来没想过

For example, I could never have imagined

一个种松露的农民，

that a truffle farmer, of all people,

would use personal DNA machines.

怎么会需要用到个人DNA检测设备。

Dr. Paul Thomas grows truffles for a living.

Paul Thomas博士以种植松露为生。

We see him pictured here,

我们可以看见，在这张照片里，

holding the first UK-cultivated truffle in his hands, on one of his farms.

他在他的一个农场里， 手里拿着第一个尿激酶培养的松露。

松露如此美味

Truffles are this delicacy

that stems from a fungus growing on the roots of living trees.

源于一种在活的树根生长的真菌。

And it's a rare fungus.

这是一种罕见的真菌。

Some species may fetch 3,000, 7,000, or more dollars per kilogram.

一些种类每公斤能卖到 $3000，$7000，甚至更多。

I learned from Paul

我从保罗那了解到

that the stakes for a truffle farmer can be really high.

种松露的农民的收益可以很高。

When he sources new truffles to grow on his farms,

当保罗获得生长在他的农场的新松露时，

he's exposed to the threat of knockoffs --

他被置于仿冒品的威胁之中——

这种松露的外观和感觉很像真的，

truffles that look and feel like the real thing,

but they're of lower quality.

但是它们的质量很差。

不过即使有一双像保罗那样 训练有素的眼睛，

But even to a trained eye like Paul's,

even when looked at under a microscope,

在显微镜下观察,

these truffles can pass for authentic.

这些松露都可以通过真品的检测。

So in order to grow the highest quality truffles,

为了种植最高质量的松露，

the ones that chefs all over the world will fight over,

那些世界各地的大厨 所竞相争夺的松露，

保罗必须使用DNA分析。

Paul has to use DNA analysis.

Isn't that mind-blowing?

这难道不令人大开眼界吗?

I bet you will never look at that black truffle risotto again

我敢打赌你以后看着 黑松露意大利调味饭，

without thinking of its genes.

都不得不想到它的基因。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But personal DNA machines can also save human lives.

但个人DNA检测器 还可以挽救人类的生命。

Ian Goodfellow教授是 剑桥大学的病毒学家。

Professor Ian Goodfellow is a virologist at the University of Cambridge.

Last year he traveled to Sierra Leone.

去年他去了塞拉利昂。

When the Ebola outbreak broke out in Western Africa,

当埃博拉疫情在非洲西部爆发，

he quickly realized that doctors there lacked the basic tools

他即刻意识到那里的医生 缺乏基础的工具

去检测疾病并与之搏斗。

to detect and combat disease.

Results could take up to a week to come back --

结果最迟需要一周才能出来—

that's way too long for the patients and the families who are suffering.

这对于遭受痛苦的病人 和家属来说太久了。

Ian决定将他的实验室 搬去马可尼，塞拉利昂。

Ian decided to move his lab into Makeni, Sierra Leone.

在这里，我们可以看到Ian Goodfellow

Here we see Ian Goodfellow

moving over 10 tons of equipment into a pop-up tent

正在把一个超过10吨的设备 搬入一个弹出式帐篷，

that he would equip to detect and diagnose the virus

这是他准备来检测和诊断病毒，

在24小时内确定病毒的 基因序列的地方。

and sequence it within 24 hours.

But here's a surprise:

但令人意想不到的是：

Ian在英国实验室用来 确定和诊断埃博拉病毒

the same equipment that Ian could use at his lab in the UK

基因序列的相同设备，

to sequence and diagnose Ebola,

just wouldn't work under these conditions.

在当前的条件下是根本无法使用的。

We're talking 35 Celsius heat and over 90 percent humidity here.

我指的是当地35摄氏度的高温 和超过90%的湿度。

但现在，伊恩可以使用 个人DNA检测器，

But instead, Ian could use personal DNA machines

它们小到可以被放置 在空调装置的前面，

small enough to be placed in front of the air-conditioning unit

to keep sequencing the virus

来进行病毒测序

and keep saving lives.

和拯救生命。

This may seem like an extreme place for DNA analysis,

这可能看起来像在 在一个极端的地方进行DNA分析，

但是让我们看看一个更 更极端的环境：

but let's move on to an even more extreme environment:

outer space.

外太空。

Let's talk about DNA analysis in space.

让我们来谈谈在太空中进行DNA分析。

When astronauts live aboard the International Space Station,

当宇航员生活在国际空间站中，

they're orbiting the planet 250 miles high.

是绕着距地球400公里高的轨道移动。

They're traveling at 17,000 miles per hour.

他们以每小时2万7千多 公里的时速绕行。

Picture that --

想象一下吧——

you're seeing 15 sunsets and sunrises every day.

每天会看到15次日落和日出。

You're also living in microgravity,

人也在微重力中

floating.

漂浮着。

And under these conditions, our bodies can do funky things.

在这些条件下， 我们的身体机能会失常。

其一便是我们的免疫系统会被抑制，

One of these things is that our immune systems get suppressed,

making astronauts more prone to infection.

让宇航员更容易感染疾病。

A 16-year-old girl,

一个16岁的女孩，

a high school student from New York, Anna-Sophia Boguraev,

一个来自纽约的高中生， Anna-Sophia Boguraev，

wondered whether changes to the DNA of astronauts

想知道宇航员的DNA变化

could be related to this immune suppression,

是否可能与免疫抑制相关，

and through a science competition called "Genes In Space,"

通过一个被称为“太空基因”的科学比赛，

Anna-Sophia designed an experiment to test this hypothesis

为了测试这个假说， Anna-Sophia设计了一个实验，

using a personal DNA machine aboard the International Space Station.

在国际空间站上使用了个人DNA检测器。

Here we see Anna-Sophia on April 8, 2016, in Cape Canaveral,

这里，我们看到的是Anna-Sophia 2016年4月8日在卡纳维拉尔角，

看着她的实验装置发射 到国际空间站。

watching her experiment launch to the International Space Station.

That cloud of smoke is the rocket

那团烟是火箭

that brought Anna-Sophia's experiment to the International Space Station,

带着Anna-Sophia的 实验设备去国际空间站，

where, three days later,

三天后，

astronaut Tim Peake carried out her experiment --

宇航员蒂姆·皮克进行了她的实验——

in microgravity.

在微重力环境中。

Personal DNA machines are now aboard the International Space Station,

个人DNA检测器现在 在国际空间站上服役，

where they can help monitor living conditions

在那里它们可以 帮助监测宇航员的身体机能，

and protect the lives of astronauts.

并保护宇航员的生命。

A 16-year-old designing a DNA experiment

一个16岁的孩子设计了DNA检测实验，

to protect the lives of astronauts

为了保护宇航员的生命，

may seem like a rarity, the mark of a child genius.

看起来非常罕见， 天才儿童的标志。

Well, to me, it signals something bigger:

而对我来说， 它标志着更重要的事：

that DNA technology is finally within the reach of every one of you.

DNA技术终于距离 你们每一个人都不远了。

A few years ago,

几年前，

a college student armed with a personal computer

一个大学生配备上一台个人电脑

could code an app,

就能写出一个应用程序，

现在这是一个社交网络的应用程序， 有超过十亿的用户。

an app that is now a social network with more than one billion users.

Could we be moving into a world

我们可以进入一个

of one personal DNA machine in every home?

每个家庭都配备一台 个人DNA检测器的世界吗?

I know families who are already living in this reality.

我知道这在有些家庭中 已经实现了。

The Daniels family, for example,

例如丹尼尔斯一家，

set up a DNA lab in the basement of their suburban Chicago home.

在芝加哥郊区的家庭地下室 建立了一个DNA实验室。

This is not a family made of PhD scientists.

这不是一个由博士科学家 组成的家庭。

This is a family like any other.

这只是一个再普通不过的家庭。

They just like to spend time together doing fun, creative things.

他们只是喜欢花时间在一起 做有趣的，有创造性的事情。

By day, Brian is an executive at a private equity firm.

白天，布莱恩是 私人股票基金公司的一个经理。

晚上和周末， 他和7岁和9岁的孩子一起，

At night and on weekends, he experiments with DNA

进行他们的DNA实验，

alongside his kids, ages seven and nine,

as a way to explore the living world.

把这视为一种探索世界的方式。

Last time I called them,

上次我打电话给他们的时候，

他们检查了后院花园里 自家种植的农产品。

they were checking out homegrown produce from the backyard garden.

他们测试了采摘的西红柿，

They were testing tomatoes that they had picked,

taking the flesh of their skin, putting it in a test tube,

提取它们表皮上的果肉， 放进试管中，

用化学药剂混合提取DNA，

mixing it with chemicals to extract DNA

and then using their home DNA copier

然后使用他们自家的DNA复印机

to test those tomatoes for genetically engineered traits.

来测试那些西红柿的转基因性状。

For the Daniels family,

对于丹尼尔斯一家来说，

the personal DNA machine is like the chemistry set

个人DNA检测器 就像针对21世纪设计的

for the 21st century.

化学实验。

Most of us may not yet be diagnosing genetic conditions

我们大多数人可能还没有 在自家厨房的水槽中

in our kitchen sinks

做过任何基因检测，

或者家庭亲子鉴定测试。

or doing at-home paternity testing.

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But we've definitely reached a point in history

但是我们绝对达到了 历史上的一个节点，

where every one of you could actually get hands-on with DNA

每个人都能在厨房亲自进行

in your kitchen.

DNA检测试验。

You could copy, paste and analyze DNA

你能复制，粘贴和分析DNA，

从中提取有用的信息。

and extract meaningful information from it.

And it's at times like this that profound transformation

在这种情况下，这种深刻的转变

is bound to happen;

一定会发生；

moments when a transformative, powerful technology

当改变发生时, 那些在之前仅限于

少数象牙塔中的强大技术，

that was before limited to a select few in the ivory tower,

finally becomes within the reach of every one of us,

最终能够让我们每一个人 接触和使用到，

from farmers to schoolchildren.

从农民到学生。

Think about the moment

想想那一刻

when phones stopped being plugged into the wall by cords,

当手机不再需要插线进行充电，

or when computers left the mainframe

又或者当电脑脱离了大型计算机构架，

and entered your home or your office.

进入你的家里或者办公室中。

The ripples of the personal DNA revolution

个人DNA革命的涟漪

may be hard to predict,

可能很难预测，

but one thing is certain:

但有一件事是可以确定的：

revolutions don't go backwards,

革命不会倒退，

DNA技术已经蔓延得 比我们的想象更快。

and DNA technology is already spreading faster than our imagination.

So if you're curious,

所以，如果你很好奇，

get up close and personal with DNA -- today.

去近距离探索个人化DNA吧—— 就从今天开始。

It is in our DNA to be curious.

因为好奇就存在于我们基因中。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

谢谢大家。

Thank you.

(Applause)

（掌声）